Perhaps the worst part of the gruesome injury suffered by Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Chris Godwin in the waning minutes of Monday's 41-31 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on "Monday Night Football" is that it could have been avoided.

Trailing by 10 with less than two minutes left, the Bucs attempted to close the gap in garbage time (Baltimore left off the gas in the fourth quarter after running up a 34-10 lead.)

Quarterback Baker Mayfield hit Godwin with a pass over the middle and as he was tackled by Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith, his left ankle got caught underneath Smith, leading to what Bucs head coach Todd Bowles believed was a dislocated ankle.

Bowles faced the firing squad in his post-game press conference, and he justified why he kept Godwin in the game despite it being all but decided.

"We're trying to win the ball game," Bowles told reporters. "We were still down 10, trying to get extra points and kick another onside kick -- it just happened. With Mike (Evans) going down, we didn't have that many receivers left as it was, so we play with what we got. ... We don't second-guess. We got our guys, we're playing all our guys."

While Bowles likely didn't think twice about pulling Godwin before the injury, he was raked over the coals on social media by several people accusing him of coaching malpractice for leaving his second-best WR in the game that late after his top pass-catcher left earlier in the game with an injury.

"F***ing ridiculous to even still have him out there," one fan wrote.

"The most unnecessary injury," a second responded.

"This is why I hate it when teams empty the clip in garbage time, just run the ball and take it on the chin. The odds you hurt a starter was always greater than the odds of completing an insanely low probability comeback," a third fan exclaimed.

"Chris Godwin just broke his ankle down 10 with 40 seconds left .. why are the starters even in the game," exclaimed another fan.

"All for what. Some garbage time stats ? The game was over and this is what happens," remarked another.

"That was terrible wow, what was that coach thinking," asked one user.

Despite the heat he was taking for not taking Godwin out in a two-possession game, Bowles also claimed that Godwin himself didn't want to come out.

It's not known how severe Evans' injury is, but the Bucs are not facing the prospect of being without their top two receivers for a significant amount of time with Godwin's injury likely a season-ender.